Well, Fair Trading reportedly says that only local councils have the necessary authority to take such steps.

The government department has updated its “Strata Living” handbook to warn committees that passing by-laws constraining holiday letting is not on.

“Section 139 (2) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 states that no by-law can prohibit or restrict the devolution of a lot or a transfer, lease, mortgage or other dealing relating to a lot,” a Fair Trading spokesperson reportedly said.

What happens now?

It’s no surprise that Airbnb was quite happy with this judgment, whereas strata managements were not.

What is boils down to is that by-laws instructing owners to adhere to local council zoning requirements weren’t worth the paper they’re written on.

In fact, according to a government spokesperson, that’s because only local councils can enforce their zoning — which does make sense, doesn’t it?

By-laws supporting local zoning have been used by some strata schemes to work around the restrictions on by-laws directly banning short-term letting.

Interestingly, in a Sydney context, there are varying levels of complaints about holiday letting in residential buildings such as Airbnb.

In the city, seemingly, very few complaints were submitted every year, but in Bondi, unsurprisingly, the local council received about 10 complaints a month.

A new discussion paper on holiday letting in NSW is due to be released so we’ll just have to watch this space.

About Teresa Angelone

Teresa is the property management Client Relationship Manager for Metropole in Melbourne. As a property investor and landlord she understands the importance of having a proactive Property Management Team caring for your investments. www.melbournebuyersagent.com.au